I want one. I see them everyday arround Manchester, some as people carriers, some as taxis, other working as painters vans.
And I love them. Seeing the spec in this video, and how a cheap set of springs can make them handle fairly well, I reckon one would be perfect for server humping.
formatting link
up the 6th and 7th seats and swing the captains chairs round and you could move house in it.
The 6th and 7th seats would be mostly folded. That would be where I would store the servers when transporting them.
Next big shift will be 10 1U servers, 2 4U Raid1+Raid5 database servers with redundant PSU, 3 Cisco switches, 4 APC powerstrips, a rackmount keyboard/monitor, 2 Cisco firewalls, 2 Juniper routers and all the associated mounting hardware. This will be when we move into our new datacentre for our disaster recovery suite. In the Celsior, to carry it safely you are probably looking at 3 trips 15-20 minutes each way. A decent van or people carrier could carry the lot in one trip.
Then we have to decommission one of our other datacentres as the company is a pile of s**te and has turned into a disaster zone since they made me and a 3rd of the staff redundant.
Then we have to rationalise our 3rd datacentre.
Also, one of my jobs is carting all the recyling material over to our other office. Normally piles of cardboard, so bulky rather than heavy but sometimes very dirty so you don't want it on the seats.
A van would be ideal, but private insurance on a van is higher than a car, even with business cover. And sometimes I need to seats in the back because when things like sight tests need to be done, or a number of staff are attending a conference locally I have to transport them for petrol expenses. I could buy a car totally unsuitable work, but the chances are 50% of my duties would disappear over night and probably my job too. I'm useful, because as well as the office IT/phone answering I can also do the humping and shifting. I get paid too well to just be a multitasking receptionist.
Can't remember what rate, but the company owns no vehicles. The boss used to move stuff one by one in his old SC430. His DB9 doesn't hold near enough, although he did move a 6U server on the frot seat. I was worried about the leather, he was more concerned about me crammed in the back seat.
The other boss has a GS430h. The batteries/motor take up so much space there is barely enough room for one bag of golf clubs.
A lot of jobs have a requirement to have a vehicle suitable. Nothing has been stated out right, but when he asked what I was after next and I said something diesel with a decent sized boot he said "Good".
Life's to short for folding seats. And every car I've owned with folding rear seats has handled like a 3 legged pig on roller skates in a greased bearing factory on stella with the seats down, especially when loaded.
The exception being the Estelle, with the rear seats folded, you just got a big flat area inside a normal stiff saloon shell.
It seems like so many cars use folding seats as a structural brace.
Life's too short to shift boxes between offices, but you're doing it. And face it, doing one of those runs you're not exactly going to be pushing the handling are you.
The Saab was one of the few cars that didn't flex much. But then most off the time the back end was big enough anyway.
I get paid to shift boxes. And you would be surprised how slow but twisty roads can make a normal hatch body flex. Especially one with a few years on it.
Even the GT4 which with the seat up felt like the body was hewn from granite, wobbled like a jelly with the seat down.
The Octavia was probably close to being the worst, you could hear/feel the body flexing with the off if you were loaded in the boot, the seat clips would rattle against the fitting round corners. And there was nothing wrong with the body on that.
So you get paid to put the seats up/down if you need to.
Remember I drive an old hatch - one with various plastic panels, engineered to be light. Most of its life is spent with the seats down.
Thing is, provided you're not actually caning it, the flex ain't a problem. (heck on the BX it isn't a problem anyway if empty - it's not as if the back end actually does anything). And if you're caning it with a boot full of servers on company business, you've got a whole different set of problems.
If you want a previa, go ahead and get one. You'll get bored and want to change it in a few months time anyway. But don't sit there making up bogus reasons why you need one - concentrate on "want" instead, coz that's lots more satisfying.
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.